All news on the topic: Independent Media

After returning to power in Hungary 16 years ago, Viktor Orbán began steadily dismantling the country’s independent media, building a system that brought journalism increasingly under state control.

The deportation of a dissident editor, which rights groups condemned as a hallmark of authoritarian cooperation, occurred just a day before Azerbaijan’s president arrived in Tbilisi for a state visit.

“I am warning you that under the (...) Criminal Procedure Code, you may be fined up to 150,000 dinars, and if you continue to refuse to provide the requested information, you may be fined again in the same amount,” prosecutor Aleksandar Milošević wrote in a letter sent to KRIK this week.

In a marble-lined courtroom at the Palace of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, attorneys, executives, and judges convened on Thursday to address a corporate dispute that many believe could have sweeping implications for democracy nearly 1,500 kilometres away.

More than 60 Georgian media and civil society organizations have been required to disclose donor and grant data under a new law, resulting in warnings that the government is utilizing regulations as a tool to intimidate and silence independent voices.

On Wednesday, a Kyrgyz court sentenced two former employees of Kloop, a leading investigative newsroom and OCCRP partner, to five years in prison and handed three years of probation to two former accountants, all charged with conspiring to “incite mass unrest,” officials said. Lawyers and Kloop management have called the case baseless.

This week, four former employees from Kyrgyzstan’s leading investigative newsroom, Kloop, stood trial in Bishkek, accused of conspiring to “incite mass unrest.”

On Thursday, Azerbaijani authorities arrested a photojournalist and ordered nearly two months of pre-trial detention in connection with the Meydan TV case.

Foreign embassies and media advocates condemned the sentencing of Mzia Amaghlobeli after a Georgian court jailed the veteran journalist.

Three female journalists from Azerbaijan’s Abzas Media report being mistreated in prison after initiating a hunger strike in solidarity with their jailed director, emphasizing the increasing repression of independent media in the country.

A relentless crackdown over the past 18 months has eradicated any semblance of independent media from authoritarian Azerbaijan.